When I was a child, my parents bought us a swing set for the back yard. I remember my mother making such a fuss about it because it had cost over $100.00 brand new from Kmart. Nowadays, I'm not sure you could by the seat alone for the swing for that price. 

It was a metal swing set, with two swings, a see saw seat (these seemed to be the thing that always broke first on those sets and I always wondered why). Later on, the early 80s we got a replacement set that looked the same, but had a sliding board to boot.

 
I'm glad most makers of play sets have gotten smarter and changed to using plastic instead of metal for the slides. With the metal ones, I'd end up with butt burns if it was remotely sunny outside and I was wearing anything like a dress or shorts.
There were two things that I absolutely loved about swinging, and boy, did I love to swing. It was close to one of my favorite things to do, next to blowing bubbles. I think bubbles may always take precedent over any other toy from my childhood as it was a relaxing, beautiful activity that could take me far, far away from the day-to-day agony of being who I was, where I was at, with all those things that can trouble a child at that age. I lived for the moments of never never land where the fairies and mermaids ruled their worlds with magic and beauty beyond belief.

 
So when I wasn't chasing bubbles in the front yard, you may have found me around back, swinging. As I had stated, there were two things that I loved about swinging. The first being that I would swing high up into the air, pumping my legs back and forth, and I'd close my eyes as I went backwards, up to the highest point I could, clenching onto the chains so hard, it would leave marks in my palms. Then as I knew I had gotten to that stand still for a second highest point - I'd let my arms go, holding them out like I was flying and I'd open my eyes as I fell down toward the ground. There would be such a wonderful sensation, a rush through my whole body, leaving me excited and awake, tingling all over as I swooshed down toward the ground and past the earth, just by a few feet and then back up into the sky. It was quite invigorating.
The second favorite thing to do on the swings was to make the whole swing jump. Back then, the arms of the swing were not tall enough to pack deep into the ground like they do today, so they lay on top of the ground. If I swung really hard and got high enough, this would jerk the chains on the swing and the set itself would slightly lose it balance and the arms would make a huge jump on the ground. I'd get the same sensation I did when I opened my eyes falling down in air when I was swinging as I did when the chain jerked and the swing made that "thwumping" noise as it almost lost it's balance. I'd get scared that it was going to turn over, but luckily it never did. I realize now that it was a dangerous thing to do, and maybe at that time, I realized it too - maybe I loved the idea of a little danger then, the fear of the unknown - how far I could actually go...maybe that was what gave me the adrenaline rush. Strange how fearless, stupid and silly we can be as children...fearless, stupid, silly, and wonderful.